In 1981, the cult classic, Heathers was released. While details varied from the movie, and its countless renditions, the key plot line remained the same. Veronica Sawyer and her new boyfriend JD become sick of the social hierarchies within their high school created by those in power within their school’s social scene. An incident with the leader of the most influential clique in school, and coincidently Veronica’s best friend, at a party serves as a catalyst for Veronica’s rage. After a murder using drain cleaner and a cleverly forged suicide note as a coverup, their rampage does not end. JD and Veronica continue to commit numerous murders staged as suicides until Veronica realizes they had become what they sought to destroy and ends the plan, and JD, once and for all.

 However, while JD and Veronica Sawyer’s reactions to their high school social order may have been a bit overkill, the orders and systems of the real world are no joke. Social systems in the real world determine how we live and interact with our surroundings. One especially severe social system is Fascism. As defined by Robert Paxton, a political philosopher whose definition of fascism is one of the most widely accepted, “Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion”. Since after World War II when fascism was coined and became more popular, debates on “who” fascism belongs to have arose. While as of right now there is no definitive answer as political philosophy is continuously expanding and political philosophy is a nuanced study, there are certainly incorrect thought processes and answers. One of such is the concept that economics alone are enough to deem it left wing. The PragerU video, “Is Fascism Right Or Left?” views the issue from this perspective in an attempt to prove fascism is inherently left wing. By examining who is implied to be an expert, the arguments about the roots of fascism, it’s connection to other systems, and the association it has with the left we can see if these claims have truth to them or not.

1.Dinesh D’Souza: Author, political commentator

 In order to accurately determine the validity of the claim we must first examine who is being considered an expert. While no experts are directly cited, the lack of expertise and claims made Dinesh D’Souza assumed as an expert on the topic of fascism. Outside of being a political commentator and having written a book on fascism he has no credentials in relation to political philosophy or fascism. He does however, have a history of false and reactionary claims according to the major news publisher, New York Times. His history of being reactionary should be accounted for because reactionaries tend to make claims to get a reaction, as the name suggests. These claims often prioritize shock value over actual truth and credibility. Additionally, according to History News Network’s interviews of experts, D’Souza tricked them into out of context interviews for his documentaries and books. Some of the experts went as far as to say had they known D’Souza was involved, they would have not agreed to be interviewed. Most of this was because of past claims he has made in regards to fascism as well as towards highly distinguished experts who disagree with him. The views of experts on fascism and other topics D’Souza has talked about reflects his credibility within these communities and overall. Overall, D’Souza is not credible in the realm of fascism and this has been echoed by professionals and experts. 

2.“We know the name of the philosopher of capitalism: Adam Smith. We know the name of the philosopher of Marxism: Karl Marx. But who’s the philosopher of fascism?  Yes—exactly. You don’t know. Don’t feel bad. Almost no one knows. This is not because he doesn’t exist, but because historians, most of whom are on the political left, had to erase him from history in order to avoid confronting fascism’s actual beliefs.” (0:40)  

The first claim in the video is that the left is covering up who created fascism. D’souza says that everyone knows who Marx and Smith are but the left is covering up the creator of fascism. In this claim, D’Souza’s argument is a causal, or false cause fallacy. The false cause fallacy is a fallacy that occurs when one thing is assumed to have caused something without reasonable evidence. While many do not know who Gentile is, there is no evidence that it is caused by a cover up of any sort. However, there is a much more straightforward and logical explanation for not knowing the philosopher of fascism. The most probable reason is simply context and life circumstances. As capitalism is the prevailing system within America, it is probable for Americans to know it’s roots. As for Marx and Marxism, the knowledge is straightforward enough that there is minimal thought process necessary to make the connection as Marxism takes its name from Marx. Additionally, because of how uneducated Americans are in history the odds of knowing who Gentile is are even smaller. As Smithsonian, the official journal of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., illustrates, Americans are extremely uneducated on a variety of topics regarding history and civics. This is further proven by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, who released that polls showed many Americans lacked basic understanding of world history regarding World War II, the time period in which fascism and its roots is largely attributed to. The lack of knowledge of historical events among Americans effectively disproves D’Souza’s argument of erasure because American’s collective knowledge of history especially regarding the time and place where fascism as it is known today began is a much more fathomable source of the lack of knowledge of Giovanni Gentile.

3.“[H]is philosophical mentor, Karl Marx” 1:48

D’Souza is implying in this claim that fascism is on the left because Gentile was inspired by Marx. After saying this he goes on to talk about how their ideologies were incredibly similar. His use of the word mentor is intended to make the audience feel that Marx was a major role model for Gentile which is untrue. Benito Mussolini, a key contributor to Fascism, directly stated Fascism is a negation of Marxian Socialism. Since Gentile is referred to as the philosopher of fascism, this would have had to reflect his personal views on the topic for it to be widely accepted by fascists, which it was. Furthermore, most historians agree that the Doctrine of Fascism, in which this was stated, was actually ghost written by Gentile. Essentially that means that he wrote the doctrine but it’s credited as a work by Mussolini. This negates the idea of Gentile basing his ideology off Marxism. Additionally, it is a claim that does not acknowledge Gentile’s other influences. Roger Eatwell, a professor who has extensively researched fascism, states in his “Fascism” essay that Fascism was formed by many philosophers with opposing political views. Those who helped create it’s framework were not all on the left, and many were conservatives. While technically he used some of Marx’s theory for his base structure of fascism, this claim of Marx being a major mentor is still misleading. The framework for fascism existed long before Gentile so pinning down the ideology to who he was inspired by is not reliable.

4.“For Gentile, fascism is a form of socialism—indeed, its most workable form. While the socialism of Marx mobilizes people on the basis of class, fascism mobilizes people by appealing to their national identity as well as their class. Fascists are socialists with a national identity. German Fascists in the 1930s were called Nazis—basically a contraction of the term “national socialist.”  (2:35) 

Here D’Souza claims that fascism is a form of socialism which is untrue. As mentioned before, Gentile and his colleagues openly denied fascism’s connection to Marxian socialism. Additionally, referring to Paxton’s definition of fascism, fascist regimes are oppressive often based in social hierarchy. According to Stanford, socialism as the name suggests, fights for social liberation and justice outside of economics as well, making fascism unable to be defined as socialism. This especially applies to Nazis and Nazism as they were oppressive on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religion, and disability. This is further proven by Sean Illing, an expert on fascism, in an interview with Vox, where he states that Nazis also attacked anti Capitalists, socialists, and labor unions. These are crucial to most leftist economics. Had the Nazis truly upheld leftist ideals they would not have attacked those within their own ideology because of differences based on ideologies. Lastly, socialism is inherently on the left. However, according to the History News Network, most experts agree that fascism can not be pinned to the left or right. If fascism was under the umbrella of socialism, this could not be true. In fact, Roger Eatwell describes fascism as a “third way” that is a completely separate economic system from preexisting ones. This is also believed by many fascists. Not only did Gentile not think fascism was socialism, but it is unable to be defined as such and very few experts think it can be.

5.“Conservatism wants small government so that individual liberty can flourish. The left, like Gentile, wants the opposite: to place the resources of the individual and industry in the service of a centralized state.” (4:45)

The claim being made is that all fascism is authoritarianism and is inherently on the left. This is mischaracterizing authoritarianism. While authoritarianism does focus on a centralized state, that does not make all forms of authoritarianism fascism, nor does it mean the entire left is authoritative. Authoritarianism encompasses a wide variety of political ideologies. The only common factor needed is obedience to authority. In fact, some right wing ideologies fall under this label. Karen Stenner from the Department of Politics and Public Policy has stated that there are at least three different meanings of conservative within politics and none are incorrect. Notably, not all of these prioritize individual liberty.  Social conservatism is generally more authoritative but still considered conservative despite not focusing on liberties. It is considered conservatism because social conservatives seek to conserve traditional values at the expense of liberty oftentimes. Peer reviewed “Political Philosophy: Methodology” by Alexander Moseley confirms this as he states that “conservatives typically view strong institutions as necessary for peace”. These strong institutions often qualify as authoritative and do not prioritize freedom of individuals. The false assumption being made that all forms of conservatism want the same thing and the left wants the opposite is untrue and one dimensional. Authoritarianism exists in leftist spaces as well as spaces on the right. 

All in all, we have debunked the claim of Fascism being on the left by first, examining the credentials and credibility of Dinesh D’Souza, then by breaking down how his claims are unreasonable and all around incorrect, and finally, by looking at how his underlying claim of fascism being the same as authoritarianism and both being inherently on the left is misleading and inaccurate. Dinesh D’Souza has no expertise within fascism and actual experts on the issue refuse to work with him because of how uncredible he is. Then we moved on to look at how the left truly isn’t concealing Fascism. Next we moved on to debunk multiple claims regarding Gentile’s views and the components of fascism. Lastly we refuted that all conservatism focuses on freedom. Fascism and fascistic tendencies need to be recognized so they can be mitigated and prevent harm. Ignoring the relevance of fascism on the right endangers those who are often most vulnerable to fascism. This ignorance is not bliss.

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